Páginas

Manicure Monday | Tartan Nails!

Monday, 24 November 2014

Tartan seems to be a reoccurring trend every Christmas season, and its not hard to see why - it's cute, it's cosy and, when paired with a bit of sparkle, it's oh-so festive!

These darling 'Tartan Christmas Nails' are pretty and so easy to do, you just need to take your time over them!

As with any nail look, start with a clean, dry base. Not only will this mean healthy nails, but it also means your polish design will stay chip-free as long as possible.

Apply a base coat - I love the Elegant Touch 'Diamond Shield'. A good base coat will stop your nails from staining and will prevent chipping as it gives your nail polish something to adhere to.

Next, paint your nails with a block matte red colour. Try not to choose one that is too dark or the black stripes will not show up properly. I am using this cherry red shade in 'Swoosh' from ASDA.

Don't worry if your polish isn't completely opaque - we will be going back in with the red later on.

If you like you can keep one nail 'naked' right now and paint it with later as a feature finger.

Allow this to dry.

Taking a black nail polish - I am using Barry M in 'Black' - and a striping tool, create two horizontal black lines on each nail. These don't need to be mega thin, but make sure they are not touching either!

Then, draw two vertical black lines on each nail to create a tartan grid.

Make sure you allow at least 5 minutes for this to dry before moving onto the next step,

Now, taking the same red as earlier, paint a grid over the black lines you just drew. Try not to paint over the parts where the black lines cross, though.

You can see my example in the grid I have drawn in image 1 (above). This will give the look depth and dimension.

You don't need a striper tool for this, you can just use your nail polish brush - just make sure to do this slowly and carefully

Allow this to dry fully.

Then you can paint over it again, this time just doing 3 vertical stripes. This will create a difference in shades and give a real fabric texture look.